


Autumn Song

by misura



Category: Avatar (2009)
Genre: Character Death Fix, Community: smallfandomfest, M/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1931556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neytiri smiled. "My brother can be quick tempered, but he's got a good heart, Jake."</p><p>"Your brother's a big grouch," Jake said, because fair was fair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Autumn Song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heeroluva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/gifts).



It took Jake five days to work up the courage to do what he knew he needed to do, and another two to actually find the time to sneak away without anyone noticing.

Or so he'd flattered himself to think.

"And where do you think you're going?" someone (well, Tsu'tey; Jake'd recognize that voice anywhere) asked, which was a dumb question any which way you looked at it.

"I uh," Jake said, which wasn't a reply that was going to win Snappiest Comeback of the Year, either. "To the _ikran_?"

Tsu'tey gave him a very familiar look. It proclaimed that Jake was an idiot, albeit one Tsu'tey was no longer all hellbent on putting a spear in, so at least there was that - and it had only taken both of them almost dying, too.

They kept going like this, Jake figured they'd be braiding each other's hair in less than a decade. Proverbially.

"You have turned your back on him who chose you," Tsu'tey stated, which yeah, Jake knew.

Although if you were going to precise about it - well, no, jumping off of one in midair did actually involve showing it your back.

"Figured I'd go see if he was around," Jake said, shrugging as if the idea had only occured to him just now. "Make sure there's no hard feelings or anything."

The truth was that he wanted to fly again. The _toruk_ was off the flight menu, clearly - tricky enough keeping a low profile as it was. Besides, Jake was a tad worried it might try to eat him if he went looking for it again.

So. _Ikran_ , it was, and the sooner Tsu'tey'd get out of his way, the sooner he could get down to it.

Tsu'tey pulled back his upper lip, then reached into a bag he was carrying on his side, pulled some sort of fruit out of it and threw it at Jake's feet.

It narrowly missed Jake's toes, which Jake figured was totally on purpose.

"You should at least bring a gift," Tsu'tey said. His tone implied that even an idiot would have known this. "One does not expect to be given something for nothing."

"All right," Jake said, because asking, _if that's how it is, what are you doing giving me that fruit?_ seemed kind of pointless as well as risky. Tsu'tey might no longer be all hot to trot at the idea of Jake dying unpleasantly, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have a list of boring chores all lined up for the first sucker he could justify giving them to. "Thanks."

Tsu'tey sneered at him some more, then turned and strode away.

 

"Sometimes, we can only accept that things have changed," Neytiri said, which Jake tried not to think was easy enough for _her_ to say; she'd bonded to a new _ikran_ easily enough.

Of course, hers had actually died.

"That's ... good advice," he said. "Thanks for that, eh?"

New things had started to grow in the ruins of the home tree - five years from now, likely as not, you'd hardly even be able to tell there'd been a ginormous tree there, once.

Jake told himself it was all for the best. The memories weren't going to go anywhere.

Neytiri smiled. "My brother can be quick tempered, but he's got a good heart, Jake."

"Your brother's a big grouch," Jake said, because fair was fair.

"He'll help you if you let him," Neytiri said, which Jake figured was a nice way of saying Tsu'tey might agree to help if Jake groveled hard and long enough.

"I'm sure he will." Jake didn't really feel like groveling. He wanted to _fly_ again.

 

"One only becomes a warrior once," Tsu'tey said, as Jake had known he would.

"Yeah," Jake said, by way of indicating that yup, he knew that already, thanks, but maybe there was some sort of exception they could make, just this once, because he was asking all nice and polite?

Tsu'tey sneered at him. Jake wondered what it would take to make the guy smile.

"Look," Jake said, "I want to go flying again, know what I mean? 'cause flying - I mean, it used to be, I couldn't even _walk_ , all right? And then I could, again, and it was great, except then I discovered what it was like to fly and now all I want is to feel that way again. I _need_ to feel that way again."

" _All_ you want?" Tsu'tey asked. Mildly in that way of his that meant he really wasn't.

Time to take his foot off the gas pedal. "Well," Jake said. "I'd really like it."

"Your problem is not my problem," Tsu'tey said. "Is it?"

"I don't know," Jake said, because two could play that game. "Is it?"

Tsu'tey stared at him for a while, which was fine; not as if Jake had anywhere he needed to be or something. He could do this all day, really. Honestly.

Tsu'tey's ears flicked. "I'll show you where to find the _kashi_ ," he said. "Come. Unless you're scared?"

"Me?" Jake asked. "You're kidding me, right?"

 

 _Kashi_ , it turned out, were the kind of fruits the _ikran_ supposedly liked so much.

Collecting them required a certain amount of dexterity, courage and sheer luck - apparently, the _kashi_ tree spoilt its fruits if it felt threatened or touched inappropriately or simply like it would be fun to ruin someone's day.

"You telling me doing this actually scares some people?" Jake asked. He'd gotten half of a _kashi_ so far. Seven spoilt ones.

"The spoilt ones explode," Tsu'tey said, cool as a cucumber. "Sometimes."

"A real friendly tree, huh?" Jake thought bad thoughts at the tree and reached out to pet its trunk. "Remind you of anyone?"

Tsu'tey sneered.

 

Tsu'tey's _ikran_ gave him the third funny look in fifteen minutes, which was about the time they'd been waiting for Jake's _ikran_ to show up.

Jake told himself that, really, patience was a virtue and all that.

"You're thinking too loudly," Tsu'tey said.

"You want to teach me how to think quiet, be my guest," Jake said.

Tsu'tey's ears flicked, which Jake wasn't sure how to interpret until Tsu'tey said, "Impossible".

"Your bond has been damaged," Tsu'tey said, which Jake felt more than earned him a not at all quiet 'no shit, Sherlock'. "It has not, however, been severed. You must find it again and repair it."

"How?" Jake asked. "Seriously," he added, before Tsu'tey could sneer at him again.

"It cannot be put into words," Tsu'tey said. "It can only be shown."

"Well, then." Jake figured that sounded clear enough, and hardly impossible.

"From mate to mate," Tsu'tey said. "Thus, impossible."

"Hey, you're not that bad-looking," Jake said, more or less on auto-pilot. Once he'd said it, it seemed kind of rude to take it back, though, especially since it was perfectly true.

Plus, Jake knew by now that underneath Tsu'tey's prickly exterior, there was an occasionally even pricklier interior. (So Jake was kind of a masochist, apparently. So what?)

Tsu'tey's ears flicked again. "You would choose a mate for the sole purpose of regaining your bonded _ikran_?"

Put like that, it sounded kind of bad. "No?" Jake said. "Except, uh, yes? Maybe? I mean, it's not a forever and ever thing, is it?"

Tsu'tey's ears went flat. "It doesn't have to be," he agreed. Cautiously. Warily.

"Then, willing if you are," Jake said. He still felt like a bit of a sleazeball - but then, Neytiri _had_ said Tsu'tey wanted to help him, and apparently, that more or less required ... well.

Tsu'tey's _ikran_ growled and took off in as blatant a display of 'you crazy kids do whatever you want - just don't expect me to stick around and watch' as Jake had ever seen.

"Fine," Tsu'tey snarled.

It wasn't exactly the beginning of the greatest romance Pandora had ever seen, but Jake figured that they could always work on that some other day.


End file.
